DESIRE OUTWITS MOTHER NATURE
As a fitting climax to this chapter, I wish to introduce one of the most unusual
persons I have ever known. I first saw him twenty-four years ago, a few minutes
after he was born. He came into the world without any physical sign of ears, and the
doctor admitted, when pressed for an opinion, that the child might be deaf, and mute for
life.
I challenged the doctor's opinion. I had the right to do so, I was the child's
father. I, too, reached a decision, and rendered an opinion, but I expressed the opinion
silently, in the secrecy of my own heart. I decided that my son would hear and speak.
Nature could send me a child without ears, but Nature could not induce me to accept
the reality of the affliction.
In my own mind I knew that my son would hear and speak. How? I was sure
there must be a way, and I knew I would find it. I thought of the words of the immortal
Emerson, "The whole course of things goes to teach us faith. We need only obey.
There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we shall hear the right
word."
The right word? DESIRE! More than anything else, I DESIRED that my son should
not be a deaf mute. From that desire I never receded, not for a second.